Eftihia Kyriacou last visited Melbourne in 2025 to reunite with family and perform a recital alongside pianist Elyane Laussade.
“Our artistic partnership spans many years, and whenever she tours Italy […] or when I return to Australia, our souls instantly reunite through music,” she told Neos Kosmos.
A soprano of Greek-Cypriot heritage, Kyriacou has made Italy her permanent home since 2018 in pursuit of her operatic dreams.
But she first moved to the birthplace of opera at the age of 25.
Backed by community generosity
That move was made possible thanks to an Ahepa International scholarship, winning first prize at a music competition in memory of Greek Australian singer and songwriter Costas Tsicaderis, and the community’s “collective generosity” as Kyriacou puts it.
“Along with the $2,000 prize from the competition, I received an extraordinary wave of support: an additional $7,000 from sponsors, private donors, and the Cypriot Community.”
An Australian Catholic university graduate of opera singing, Kyriacou had already performed as a soloist on major stages when she decided to return to Italy.
Studying there had been a dream since the very start of her formal voice training, at 15, she said.
“I wanted to specialize in operatic repertoire under the guidance of my Maestra, Patrizia Morandini, preparing for major theater auditions.”
This path of intense study has led her to perform on Italian stages over the years, including in Prato, Florence and Genoa.
Kyriacou’s ambition for “artistic excellence” was what initially convinced her to stay in Italy.
“And, later, destiny, itself,” she says on meeting her husband, a cellist for Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa.
From opera to cooking
Kyriacou takes pride in following “a multifaceted path” as an artist, combining opera performances with poetry writing, music composition, painting, jewelry making, and even professional language teaching.
“While operatic singing remains my principal and deepest professional calling, teaching my native languages, English and Greek, is a vital and deeply rewarding dimension of my life,” she says.
“For me, teaching languages is not separate from my artistic life; it is a natural extension of my passion for communication, precise vocal diction, and building human connections.”
Whatever the medium she uses, Kyriacou says, the ultimate purpose is “transferring love, sharing beauty, and elevating the human spirit.”
Her latest upcoming project is a collection of “gentle cooking” recipes.
“I have enclosed here my personal healing through 111 original recipes, specially designed for those who battle every day with irritable bowel syndrome and acid reflux,” her social post announcing the book, reads.
Her Mediterranean roots from growing up in a Greek-Cypriot household feature prominently in the recipe book.
So does a focus on light ingredients refining traditional recipes “into a ‘gentle’ culinary language designed for stomach health and physical well-being.”
Rather than a typical cookbook, the author says, expect a weaving of flavors and arias — from Puccini to Rossini, symphonies, chamber music and more, accompanying the writing through scannable QR codes.
“It includes rare historical photographs, alongside my own original drawings and digitally crafted and curated sketches of great composers and famous artists from both the past and the present.
“Most uniquely, through curated multimedia integration, readers do not just read ingredients; they listen to historical recordings, operatic arias, and my own vocal performances,” Kyriacou explains.
Healing through the ‘language of care’
We all know the Hippocratic ideal of ‘healthy mind in a healthy body’, but how many of us pay just lip service to it?
Not Kyriacou who sees an “absolute parallel” between her two passions.
“I firmly believe that true healing can only happen when we treat the soul and the physical body simultaneously.
“Opera and gentle eating are two different expressions of the exact same language of care.”
Healing the body through intentional food is also a known concept.
But when it comes to opera, for those of us unfamiliar, it can feel distant.
Kyriacou says we only need to listen with a closer ear to be convinced otherwise.
“A major misconception is that opera is rigid, elite, or artificial.”
“In truth, opera is the most visceral and unmasked human experience possible.”
An experience that she is looking to share with a wider audience, whether she’s wearing her soprano or her ‘gentle eating’ hat on.
“My ultimate, heartfelt hope is that long after I am gone, someone who is going through a period of deep physical illness or emotional difficulty will open this book, look at the art, listen to the music, taste the food, and find the strength to smile again.”
